Hunter-gatherer versus today's man: who is stronger?

It does not matter how fit you are. You're slackers. Not strong. Pathetic.

Latest research shows human fitness has decreased so dramatically in recent years, that even the strongest of us would consider ancient men to be ... monsters, according to an article on outsideonline.com.

In a paper, "From athletes to couch potatoes: Humans through 6,000 years of farming," it states that when Central Europeans made the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural ones, that men's lower limb strength and overall mobility decreased (even more so for women).

Alison Macintosh, with Cambridge University's Phenotypic Adaptability, Variation and Evolution Research Group, is author of the paper. A Cambridge Ph.D. candidate, she compared laser-scanned femurs and tibia of skeletons from around 5300 B.C. to A.D. 850.

She then cross-checked her findings with a study of bone rigidity among modern Cambridge undergraduates, and found that the ability among male farmers to move about their environment 7,300 years ago was, on average, at a level near that of today's student cross-country runners.

(Ouch.)

Our overall strength declined because, as technologies improved and men's and women's tasks diversified, people became less active. The result: today's man is not only more sedentary than ever before, but compared to men of yon, we're practically enfeebled.

"We do much, much less than our ancestors," says Robb Wolf, author of The Paleo Solution, "and our skeletons reflect this decrease in activity."

And it shows. Take a look at our nation's obesity ranking:

Adult obesity rates increased in 16 states in the past year and did not decline in any state, according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Threatens America's Future 2011, a report from the Trust for America's Health (TFAH) and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). Twelve states now have obesity rates above 30 percent. Four years ago, only one state was above 30 percent.

Be even more concerned about our nation's obese children. As technology unfolds daily, the lure of hand held devices pits these kids on the couch more and more and more. Parents: make this stop. Mississippi ranks the state with the most obese children, with a 21.9 percent prevalence. Alabama is ranked 14th, with a 17.9 percent prevalence, according to the F as in Fat study.

What does your child do after school? Watch TV, or at the very least, play outside?

This decline in physical activity and bone strength has led to osteoporosis, decrease in fitness, obesity, and myriad other problems and diseases, according to outsideonline.com. Ironically, "We have an overabundance of nutrition and we train better," says Colin Shaw of Cambridge University's Phenotypic Adaptability, Variation and Evolution Research Group, "but we're overweight and we're not challenging our bodies like we used to."

Indeed the hunter-gatherers of 30,000 to 150,00 years ago traveled extremely long distances while hauling all kinds of weight, according to the article.

"They were much stronger than the long-distance runners of today," says Shaw. In a study he published earlier this year, he concluded that "the people back then were monsters by comparison. What you see today is quite pathetic."

Loren Cordain, professor emeritus of health and exercise science at Colorado State University and author of The Paleo Diet, thinks people should eat and live like our hunter-gatherer ancestors, whose meat-heavy diets gave them more muscle mass and enhanced their athletic abilities and performance, according to the article.

(Goodbye, chocolate.)

Wolf would add in weight training, stretching, and, in particular, cross-country running, because it challenges our bodies in the same ways hunter-gatherers had to navigate uneven terrain, and the up-and-down of hills—all of which increased their physical robustness.

(This is why some of us run?!)

This was a great take of what once was, what is now ... but also what can be. We can be active. We can eat right. We can turn off the television. We can continue to pursue healthier lives. We are in a new generation of technology that I know many won't pass up on -- the best shoes, the best machines, coaches, doctors. We know what we want, and we'll take the measures provided to us to get there.

But technology should not equate to taking the easy way out. It shouldn't mean we don't try harder. That we don't push harder. It shouldn't excuse us to the couch.